Lost and Found
by Another Naruto Fan
Summary: Robbed of his Chakra and lost in an unknown existence, Naruto believed all hope was lost until he stumbled upon a hapless young girl. Now with only one goal in mind he must adapt to this strange new way of life amidst a world full of danger unlike anything he has faced before.
1. Prologue

**A/N - Please note that this is only the prologue of the story I am currently working on, chapter 1 will follow shortly. This will be a Naruto crossover with The Walking Dead Game by TellTale Games. Please feel free to leave constructive criticism, but above all else, enjoy.**

* * *

Choice.

Every human being has the power to make choices. It is this ability which defines who we are. Every action comes down to this fundamental rule, some of these decisions are easy to make whilst others are what can make or break a person. However, no matter the situation, you must always remember that in the end, the path you choose to walk was the one that you chose. Emotions, the opinions of others and the environment may all play a part in leading you to this stage, but ultimately...

**_It was you who chose it to be this way_**

Naruto Uzumaki. A child who over the years had overcome obstacles that would have crushed a lesser man's very soul. The trials and tribulations he faced could have turned him into a monster, into the very thing his family had spent generations keeping at bay. They should have twisted him into a bitter and resentful creature which hated everything around it, a creature shaped by the inhumane acts of those his family had given their lives for. But they didn't.

Naruto Uzumaki chose to rise above the stigma attached to him at birth. He chose to protect those who defiled their leaders final wishes by isolating and ignoring the very child who kept them safe on a day to day basis from great destruction. He took in all of their hatred and soldiered on.

Naruto chose to be a hero.

Whenever a new enemy, whether from within or outside of his precious villages walls, came creeping from the shadows, he rose above and beyond what was to be expected from him, going out of his way to keep everyone safe, making countless sacrifices and overcoming insurmountable odds time and time again. Regardless of whether it was traitorous Chunin attempting to steal vital village secrets, or fellow demon containers who wished to harm his comrades, or even men who fancied themselves as a God with grandiose dreams of world domination. Naruto stood tall and bested them all so that others would not have to feel his pain.

Because of this, little by little, the people who had once scorned and spat upon his very existence slowly began to recognize him for what he was; their savior Soon enough due to his unwavering will he had the backing of an entire continent who believed in him, who believed that he would deliver them to an era of peace only dreamed about by his late mentor and father.

Despite his triumphs, in spite of everything he had worked so hard to achieve in his short life, with everything to lose and with the world at stake Naruto had failed when it mattered most. Even with the strongest Shinobi of the modern era fighting by his side he had allowed his kind heartedness get the better of him. By allowing the newly created Jinchuriki of Madara Uchiha a chance to repent for his sins against the world he had let his guard down and allowed him to strike.

His dearest friends had been the first to be struck down, not even his oldest and dearest brother in arms had stood a chance against the maniacal village founder. Sasuke, who had become extremely powerful in his own right, had been struck down in a single move. The once mighty Susanoo had crumbled under the direct hit and as the once proud crimson red eyes of the youngest Sharingan wielder slowly receded to their original inky black he had seen only one thing within them. A question.

_Why?_

Sasuke's demise was followed shortly by the leaders of the five great Hidden Villages. The entire Allied Shinobi army had been wiped out in a matter of seconds, all because he had made the wrong choice. With only Naruto now in his way, the ancient and mentally unstable Uchiha had cast a demoniacally powered Space-Time Ninjutsu that tore Naruto away from his world and everything he had spent a lifetime striving to protect.

Even the massive Chakra entity stuck with him since birth could do little to help him as he was flung through the very fabric of time and space. Sent hurdling towards a place where not even the caster new existed we find our hero laying face down in the dirt of a land far, far away like an unwanted toy. Blood steadily pooling around his prone form, he is found by strangers who take pity on the poor soul of a child forced to do things very few could ever hope to comprehend and take him to the nearest medical center for emergency treatment.

It is here that our story begins, six months later. When the young teen finally awakens from his tortured dreams, alone and lost, in an unfamiliar environment surrounded by equally unfamiliar faces and does the only thing a person in his circumstances could do. Naruto Uzumaki, the hero of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, released all of that pent up anguish into a heart chilling roar of anguish.

* * *

**A/N Expect Chapter 1 to be released within a few days. Please Review and tell me what you think.**

**Catch you on the flip side**


	2. Enter Clementine

**A/N – Yo, here's the first chapter I promised you guys, obviously longer than the prologue. This is the length I'll be aiming for with all of my chapters. They should be released every few days, maybe a week at the most. Thanks to all who followed or added this story to their favorites It would be nice to see a review for this chapter though. Tell me what you think so far.**

**Also looking for a beta, if anyone is interested? PM me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or The Walking Dead...**

* * *

That smell. He would recognize it anywhere. The familiar scent of disinfectant filled his nostrils before any of his other senses picked up on anything, this was soon followed by the soft voices of people discussing things that went way over his head.

"...Suffering from _t__oxic-metabolic encephalopathy, _organ failure is probably what caused it. He's been in that coma for near enough half a year now, we're not sure when – if he'll wake up. It's a miracle he's even alive given the condition he was in when he was found. Poor kid, we don't even know his name." What the hell? Were they talking about him? He'd never been kept down for more than a few days, even with life threatening injuries.

Wait, hadn't there been a war? Yes, he was sure of it. It was starting to come back to him now. Nothing but a quick sequence of flashes at first, faces that he recognized places that he had visited on his travels. But then they started to meld together into something more, almost like a slide show of memories within his mind. He saw himself defeating Kurama with the help of his mother and learning to control its Chakra, escaping the island with Kirabi, fighting the other Jinchuriki and their Biju, defeating the masked man with the help of Sasuke and then squaring off against the person who had brought the world to its knees. He remembered besting him with the help of his friends, pounding the Uchiha elder into the ground with everything he had.

But then he had stopped; even against the cries of his comrades he had relented and offered Madara a chance. A mistake which would see everything he held dearest wiped out in seconds.

"_Be gone Naruto Uzumaki, allow this world to know true peace."_

Those had been the final cryptic words he had heard before his mind knew nothing but the eternal darkness that had accompanied him for those long and lonely months. Not even his own screaming had registered as he felt a massive pulling sensation take over his body.

When the endless inky black had finally receded and dull blue eyes opened for the first time in six month he noticed changes almost instantaneously. For starters, his body felt weaker than it had in a long time, the muscle he had worked so hard to gain had all but vanished. Secondly, he had no idea where he was despite knowing he was almost definitely in a hospital. This place felt so wrong, almost alien to him.

The most glaring problem appeared to be his lack of Chakra, almost all of it was gone, after being idle for so long he had no idea how this was possible. What the hell had Kurama been doing all this time? Mustering up what meager amounts remained allowed him to asses his current situation, there were two other signatures in the room. Probably doctors, although the amount of Chakra they held inside of them was ridiculous, they shouldn't even be alive, it was almost non-existent. His own reserves had never felt so pitiful, just drawing on what was left sent shock waves of pain through his body.

Releasing the hold on his Chakra as it was probably doing more harm than good, he turned his head towards the men who had been conversing before. Both of them appeared to be males reaching their early thirties judging from the way they held themselves, they were garbed in identical white gowns which reached their knees. The bespectacled one whose voice Naruto recognized from before, stopped mid sentence when their newly awakened guest shifted his head to gaze at them with lifeless blue eyes.

"Where am I?" His voice was low and soft, it felt weird talking after being silent for so long.

* * *

Following the doctors explanation of his current circumstances Naruto had forced himself into a sitting position, which nearly caused him to black out. He had no idea where 'Atlanta' was and that confused him. He had traveled the world with Jiraiya and never once come across, or even heard of a place bearing that name.

At first he thought this was an elaborate **Genjutsu**, a ploy by his enemies to throw him off. Several bursts of his dwindling reserves had thrown that theory out of the window, he had even bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. Yet the doctors remained, their worried stares lost on him as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on. He nearly missed one of the doctors reaching out to assess the situation,

Slapping his hand away the blonde began to panic, his breathing became erratic and he clutched at his chest. This couldn't be happening, whatever was happening right now, it couldn't be. He had a war to fight dammit!

"Oi, where is Madara? Is he around here? Where exactly am I and how far away is Konoha?" This time his voice rose, the raspy voice sounded unpleasant to his own sensitive ears, with it also came a coughing fit.

After regaining his breath and wiping the spittle away from his mouth with the back of his hand Naruto watched as the doctors faced pondered his rapid onslaught of questions, then his face scrunched up in what looked like deep thought, Naruto knew he wasn't going to like what came next.

"Ma-da-ra? I'm sorry, but I'm sure I've never met, nor heard of such a person. As to where you are, your currently in the state of Georgia in a city called Atlanta. As for Konoha, I've never heard of such a place either..." The one with the glasses seemed genuinely surprised and unsure of what he was talking about. It looked like he had wanted to say more but the complete fear etched into Naruto's face had stopped him short.

This was bad. How could this guy not know who Madara was? Better yet, how could he not know about Konoha? The place was one of, if not the most important place in the history of the Elemental Nations.

"Can you tell us your name? Do you know where you live?" He heard the questions clearly but chose to ignore them; too engrossed in trying to wrap his head around this particular turn of events.

Perhaps his partner knew.

* * *

Focusing in on the core of his being Naruto appeared within his mind-scape only to find it in complete disarray; the blue pipes which signified his Chakra had completely ruptured, most of it dissipating as it left the imaginary iron containers. Walking further down he noticed the water now reached his thighs. Now slightly worried he rushed further down to where Kurama rested and burst into the large caged area he almost collapsed to his knees in shock.

Where the proud and mighty Nine Tailed Fox had once stood was now a shell of its former self.

It's vibrant orange fur had faded into an ashen grey and the aura it gave off could only be described as pitiable, this gave Naruto the impression that something was wrong almost immediately, its labored breathing and lack of reaction to his presence sent alarm bells ringing. What the hell was happening?

"What the- Kurama, what's happening to you!?" No response. Not even a growl.

The once familiar feeling of Kurama's Chakra was also absent. He couldn't feel it anywhere within his body, it looked like the giant beast had less than he did.

Walking inside the dwelling of the massive fox, Naruto couldn't believe how cold it was. His hand brushed the matted fur of the beast and found that the source of the freezing atmosphere was originating from the Kyuubi itself. Sadness welled up inside him as he attempted to swallow the lump in his throat. "Don't worry buddy, as soon as I know what's going on, I promise I'll fix this." A small whimper was his only reply.

Unable to see his once seemingly invincible ally in such a frail state, Naruto left. Fast.

* * *

Returning to the outside world just in time to see one of the doctors bring him some water whilst the other one went to work checking his vital signs, Naruto couldn't bare it any longer. Wherever this place was, it sure as hell wasn't home and he needed to get back there as soon as possible. The trouble was, he had no idea where he was or how to even get back there.

Consequences be damned he decided to go for broke and calmed his breathing, trying to relax as much as he possibly could. Going through the well practiced notions of drawing in the Natural Energy from the surrounding area he began to usher it into his body. As soon as he entered his coveted **Sage Mode** felt it he felt like being sick.

He'd never felt so much pollution in one place, the sheer filth in the air had hit him almost like a slap in the face. Worse than that however he couldn't sense anything familiar, none of his friends were nearby and the overall lack of Chakra in the surrounding populous was enough for him to release his hold on the technique.

"Okay Naruto, calm down, you can figure this out. Think, what did that spiral eyed bastard do to you and why aren't you a stain on the floor?" Quietly mumbling to himself as tried to make sense of the mess he found himself in he recalled the last words he had heard before he had woken up. Just as it seemed he was near the answer he so desperately craved another series of flashbacks came to the forefront of his mind. Images of his friends being murdered due to his inability to realize that some people were too far gone to save, the entire war effort had rested on his shoulders and he'd failed.

"...o, no, no, no, no, nooo-aaaaargh!" What had started off as a quiet murmur with his head held in his hands had picked up in volume until it was nothing but a heartbroken scream. It would be hours before the doctors and nurses managed to calm him down.

* * *

A mentally and physically exhausted Naruto found himself staring at the wall of his sparse hospital room, eyes dull and suddenly looking far older than he appeared. Anyone close to the blonde would have noted that he looked too different and the current slump he was in was far different from his usual happy-go-lucky demeanor. Unfortunately those people were dead.

After he'd calmed down he had been informed that he would be realized in the morning and escorted to the area that he'd been found. Something about a chance of someone recognizing him and coming to claim him.

'Ha, looks like I'll be waiting a good long time for that.' He'd thought about telling them what was really going on but that would be just as futile. Currently lost and without a single thing to live for he still didn't want to spend the rest of his life living with psychos in straight jackets.

He'd even tried summoning the Toads, all he got in return was a weird look from one of the passing nurses for his considerable effort. No smoke, no Chakra drain and no Toad. Wherever here was, it was too far from home for his amphibian allies to be of any use. His only hope now was to wait for Kurama to recover and see if he knew a way out of this predicament. From the looks of things though, that would be a hefty wait.

As he closed his weary eyes he tried to ignore the painful images that plagued him and get some rest. Despite being in a coma for six month he was still dead tired; something that he chalked up to the devastating realizations that had come one after the other.

Maybe tomorrow he would wake up and this would all have been a horrible nightmare.

Naruto had no idea that the nightmare was only just beginning.

* * *

The next day after waking up from his restless sleep, he found out that he was to be taken to a place called Macon by some local law enforcement that was willing to lend a hand. He was also not the only guys passenger as a dark skinned male in his late thirties would also be accompanying them. So after being given a fresh change of clothing courtesy of a generous donation from the hospital he was on his way, now dressed in a plain black t-shirt with matching track pants and blue sneakers.

Apparently due to the man, whose name he learnt was Lee, being a murderer he would have the 'privilege' of riding in the front of what looked like a miniature train from the Land of Snow. Not that it mattered of course, he cared very little about this turn of events, he was still trying to come to terms with what appeared to a very elaborate and well crafted **Genjutsu **or a brand new world devoid of Chakra.

As the journey progressed it became obvious that nobody in the vehicle was eager to start a conversation. Whilst still massively depressed, not that he would ever admit to that though, Naruto hated silence. Especially tense and awkward silences, his Ninja training had prepared him for situations like these and despite his body being in the worst shape of his life he was prepared to take out any threat that made itself apparent.

Thankfully he wouldn't have to make the first move though, the balding police officer in the drivers seat had taken the plunge head first. Glancing behind him as the driver probed his prisoner with what seemed like horribly intrusive questions, he studied the man's prisoner. A sort of scruffy looking guy in a pale blue, almost purple, shirt. Nothing really seemed to stand out about him until Naruto locked eyes with him. He knew those eyes, he'd spent almost every day looking into eyes like those. After giving Lee a small nod of the head he broke away the impromptu staring match to think over what he had just learnt, tuning out the rest of the officers basically one sided conversation in the process.

'So it appears the charges aren't false and this Lee guy really did kill someone. Huh, almost doesn't look the type...' his train of thought was cut off prematurely as his eyes focused in on something up ahead. At the high speed they were travelling at he only had a split second to realize that it looked like some guy was about to stumble into the path of their high speed vehicle.

"LOOK OUT!" It was Lee that screamed the warning but by that time it was already too late, the unknown man had already impacted with the front window and was violently knocked up and and over the car. From there everything went downhill, literally as the car impacted with the guardrails on the side of the road and flipped down a steep bank into the forested area below. All passengers inside were mercilessly thrown all over the place inside the metal death trap. In hindsight it was probably only the fact that he covered up his head that saved him from being knocked out cold like the unfortunate felon in the back seat.

Shaking his head to relieve himself of the grogginess, he crawled out of a hole where the window used to be just in time to see the his injured and dazed escort blowing away creatures left, right and center with a strange hand-held metal contraption. Naruto instantly knew something wasn't right with what he was witnessing. These 'things' attempting to surround the officer reeked of death for starters, also there was one crawling towards him... With no legs and the lower half of its jaw missing.

With no idea if this was a normal occurrence within these lands he didn't even think about defending himself, he just picked up a stray piece of metal that came off of the car and bashed it over the former humans head. A blow which should have knocked it out cold did little but make the creature groan and continue towards him at its slug-like pace. With a frown he hit it again, this time harder, his efforts earned him the sickening sound of metal piercing flesh as the metal scrap embedded itself halfway through the creatures skull. Whilst not exactly a stranger to killing he still found it pretty gruesome.

Hearing a scream his head snapped over to where the police officer had been holding his ground only to see a one of those things take a large chunk out of his neck and drag him to the floor, as if sensing his weakness others quickly converged on his now prone form. Over before he had a chance to blink, Naruto could only watch as they made a quick meal of the older guy.

Naruto quickly concluded that in his current state he wouldn't get very far and needed to find a place to lay low, preferably somewhere secluded and fenced off unless he wanted to become the main course.

A quiet pained moan sounded out from behind him and he realized that Lee was still in the back seat, unconscious and vulnerable. Cursing to himself quietly Naruto acted fast and dragged the larger man from the wreckage before hefting him onto his shoulders with a grunt. With what little Chakra he had remaining he willed it to life and sent it coursing throughout his body, the act of doing so bringing great pain in the process.

Momentarily ignoring it he pushed off the ground at speeds unseen in this world, narrowly avoiding a number of those monsters and the surrounding trees. It would have been easier to jump through the aforementioned trees but he wasn't sure if he trusted his body to be able to take the strain and was forced to stay on the low path.

After only a few seconds he came upon what looked like a home boarded off with a wooden fence. Smirking he hefted Lee over the fence first, uncaring if the man landed on his head, that was revenge for him being so freaking heavy in his eyes. Hearing the approaching footsteps behind him he then threw himself over after noticing the oncoming horde that was quickly closing in.

Brushing the dirt and leaves off of himself he stretched his now aching body as he sat up and looked around. The place seemed pretty safe, he couldn't sense any immediate danger beside those things banging against the fence and it seemed like he would be here a while. Well at least until Lee woke up so he could ask him what the hell was going on in this messed up world. A few loud bangs sounded from the distance and it seemed like the creatures were sensitive to noise as they all groaned and wandered into that direction, he just hoped those guys could handle it. In his current state he would be torn to shreds, oh sure he was positive he could kick so many of their asses that they'd remember his name until the end of times, but eventually they'd wear him down and make light work of his current frail form. Plus he had this unconscious mess to look out for,

Speaking of Lee it would probably be for the best to make the poor guy comfy, he hadn't noticed before but the way he had landed had seemed suspiciously soft. With a sheepish chuckle he stood up and propped Lee up against a nearby tree, glancing up he noted that the rather impressive tree house would be a very defensible position if more of those creeps came back.

The man in front of him didn't seem too injured, although the gash on his leg would probably get infected if it wasn't seen to soon. With another quick glance around he made his way to what he assumed to be the back entrance of the house, although no one seemed to be home he knocked a few times on the sliding glass door.

"Hello, anyone home? I could use some help out here, I've got an unconscious guy whose been banged up pretty bad..." He waited a few more seconds before sliding open the door.

"I'm coming in okay? I ain't an intruder... or one of those things outside." Once inside however he realized that these people probably needed more help than he did. Pools of blood and upturned furniture were scattered throughout the dining area and it looked like the house had been left like this for a few days at the least.

"Damn, what a mess..." Walking further in he noticed a kitchen and began to look for supplies, he almost slipped on the blood pool that was beside the counter. It would take some kind of idiot to slip on that though. He opened several of the drawers looking for something, anything that would help, a knife, a first aid kit, hell even some food would be great right about now. After searching around and coming up with nothing but an old walkie-talkie he leant on the kitchen sink whilst sipping on a glass of water.

A beeping noise went off every few seconds and after a while became highly annoying, so with a growl he marched over to the object responsible for the insufferable noise and punched whatever the hell it was. Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin when it began talking to him. Listening to it however he realized that these must be the owners of the house checking in with the babysitter they'd left their kid with, that would explain the note he'd found earlier. His eyes softened as he listened on they must have been caught by one of those things, that would explain why they weren't letting them go and the incident with the crazy guy they were talking about.

When the messages had finished Naruto sighed and looked up to the ceiling. He got another shock however when the walkie-talkie he had pocketed blared to life with a young girls voice.

"Hello?" The voice sounded extremely young, probably around 9 years old if he had to guess.

"Ermm, yo..." Silently berating himself for the lame response he reminded himself not to freak the young girl out, she may need his help.

"You need to be quiet." Naruto sweat dropped at that. First rule of his Ninja training being told to him by some kid.

"Who is this?" These walkies didn't look too advanced so whoever this young girl was she had to be close by.

"I'm Clementine. This is my house." Well she wasn't exactly talkative but it was better than nothing he supposed.

"Clementine huh? My name is Naruto. Nice to meet you." Walking around the house he continued his search for anything useful whilst trying to pinpoint exactly where she was.

"Your not my daddy." This Clementine kid was pretty blunt.

"Sorry Clementine, I guess not. How old are you?"

"Eight." Ah, his earlier estimation hadn't been too far off then. This begged the question of where the sitter was though. Judging by the blood though he already had a sinking feeling in his stomach that he knew the answer to that question. Had to be sure though so he pressed on.

"Are you on your own?" Dealing with kids really wasn't his thing, it only made it more awkward that it wasn't face to face as he'd have liked.

"Yeah, I don't know where anybody is. How old are you?" Poor kid was all alone, he could relate he supposed.

"I'm sixteen." Well he thought he was still sixteen, with the war going on he had kind of lost track of the date and he had no idea if the date was still the same in this place.

"Ok." What a way to kill the conversation kid.

"Where are your parents?" It was time to get to the bottom of this. He'd be damned if he let an eight year old girl wander around in this madness if she had no one to look out for her.

"They took a trip and left me with Sandra. There in Savannah, I think. Where the boats are." everything after 'they took a trip' was pretty much lost on the blonde, he had no idea where Savannah was and what impact the boats had on the place. Walking over to the sliding door Naruto quickly looked over to Lee, seeing that he was still unconscious he moved onto the most important order of business.

"Hmm okay, are you safe?" He was getting more and more worried as this conversation went on. No kid that age should be left to fend for themselves, it was slightly wrong of him but Naruto seriously hoped that blood was someone other than Clementine's.

"I'm outside in my tree-house, they cant get in." Naruto smirked at that, it looked as if this kid was pretty sharp. Before he could answer however he saw small baseball cap stick out of the wooden flap followed by a head of wavy brown shoulder length hair.

"See? Can you see me? I can see you through the window." Naruto nodded and gave Clementine a small wave and his trademark smile, he was so relieved that he almost let his guard down. The key word being almost.

He spun around just as what looked to be the remains of the babysitter lunged at him. He noted Clementine's scream over the hand held radio and let the walking abomination crash into the counter after he'd quickly ducked. He was certain that these things were dead. Whereas the people of this world held the barest minimum of Chakra needed to get by, these freaks had none.

With strength he didn't know he still had he grabbed the creatures back and threw it across the kitchen, watching as its head bounced off the stove. 'Well, this must be Sandra, or what used to be Sandra at least...'

Moving backwards a little he slipped on the blood patch he had noted before and would have chuckled despite himself if he hadn't also nearly knocked himself out on the bench on the way down.

Dazed but still very much aware of what was happening he crawled backwards and lashed out with a foot that struck true. The monster went flying back once more, taking a little bit longer to recover this time from the powerful blow.

His eyes widened as he noticed Clementine climbing down some rope ladders with a hammer in hand; it was useless at the minute though as Sandra was upon him once again. Numerous blows to her face did nothing but turn her head from side to side. Growling at the apparent endurance she possessed he planted both feet on her stomach and with a heave sent her flying for the third time.

Clementine had chosen this moment to slide open the door and with a very frightened look only a child in her position could hold, thrust it in his direction. Locking eyes for only a split second Naruto flipped to his, feet took the hammer and with an angry snarl brought it down upon the now crawling babysitter. The hammer met very little resistance as it crushed top of her skull He would later look back at this and regret showing such violence in front of the young girl behind him but accepted that it had to be done. Those things were hard to put down after all. It seemed only a solid blow to the head could keep them down.

Taking some time to catch his breath as the adrenaline wore off he looked at the terrified form of Clementine and winced, she was looking at him with wide eyes. He hated that look. He'd seen it all the way throughout his childhood; those fearful eyes had haunted him for years.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the unwanted memories of his youth he knelt down so that he was eye level with the young girl he now knew as Clementine.

"Hi there, its nice to finally meet you Clementine." Naruto gave her his most reassuring smile, although with the blood splattered all over his face and clothes, its purpose was mostly lost.

"Did you kill it?" She still seemed nervous, slowly inching away from the gathering pool of blood at her feet. Naruto also took note of how she referred to her deceased babysitter as an 'it' and not a 'she'.

"I think it was already dead, you know? But this time I think it'll stay dead." Naruto's statement seemed to reassure her a little bit as she nodded, her eyes avoiding his.

"Sometimes they come back." So that's what she was nervous about. Stealing a glance at the corpse by his side Naruto highly doubted that thing would be getting up any time soon.

"I don't think that will happen this time, I got it pretty good... Hey, have you been by yourself through all this?"

"Yeah, I want my parents to come home now." Naruto winced at that, remembering the voice messages he had heard on that machine, this kid would be lucky if her parents were still alive.

"I think that might be a little while..." He trailed off, not knowing what else to say or how to put what he knew into words. She looked visibly shaken by this, seemingly closing in on herself as she accepted his words as the truth.

"Look, I don't know what happened, but until we find your parents? I'll look after you. I'll keep you safe. That's the promise of a lifetime and a promise is something I never go back on." Finally her eyes met his and the sheer intensity behind Naruto's own blue orbs caused her to smile for the first time since this whole event occurred.

In that instant Naruto felt something in his chest. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. His subconscious desire to protect everyone still remained, even after failing everyone in his world, he would die before he let harm come to this child. He may have known her only a few minutes but she was so innocent and frail that Naruto couldn't help but want to shield her from the atrocities that he knew were around the corner. This was the moment the will of fire had rekindled and became the roaring inferno of his resolve. Nothing on this god forsaken planet could stop him from doing what he knew was right and he dared anything to come between him.

Whether they were living or dead.

"What do we do now?" That was something Naruto hadn't actually thought about. He didn't have any long term plans, aside from finding a way to get back home, he was stuck here for the foreseeable future. First things first though, he had to get Lee into the house and see what he could do with that leg. He could feel the air getting colder already.

"Well you see, my buddy and I, we were in a car accident. He's hurt his leg pretty bad and I'm gonna see if I can fix it. Then, we'll clean the house up so your folks have somewhere nice to come back to and we'll set off in the morning. So, would you like to help me get him in here?" Seeing Clementine nod, he led her to the back yard where Lee was resting against the tree.

After dragging the unconscious man onto the couch he and Clementine had went about fixing the house up as best they could. Obviously it had been Naruto had taken the body out back and thrown it over the fence, he had hoped the smell would drive off any more of those things who may come wandering too close.

Next on the agenda had been bandaging Lee's leg. Clementine had brought him some bandages that were kept under the sink, how he had missed them he had no idea. With Clementine's input and watchful eyes, Naruto had managed to cover up Lee's leg as best he could. He was no medic but it would do for now.

It also seemed as though there was plenty hidden as she had even managed to find some energy bars for them, as they relaxed against each other on the couch. This however, prompted Naruto to ask something that had been on his mind ever since he had woken up.

"Hey, Clem, you don't happen to have any ramen stashed around here do you?" At her confused look Naruto was convinced he must have died and went straight to hell.

* * *

**A/N - And there you have it, the first chapter of this story. I think I did a good job of sticking to the basic story line this chapter but obviously with Naruto being here you are going to notice some changes as the story develops. Some changes will be small and have little impact on the story, others however will create much bigger ripples.**

**Notice how the police officer didn't come back during this, this is because I'm sure a few hours pass before Lee regains consciousness and therefore didn't have time to reanimate.**

**Review and tell me what you thought of this, or even if you just have a question, I'll answer them all.**

**Till next time folks!**


	3. Naruto's Resolve

**A/N – Yo, it's me again! I proudly present to you chapter two of Lost and Found. This was a bit harder to write than the last so I hope you can forgive me for the slight delay... Anyway, please enjoy!**

**Still looking for a beta, if anyone is interested PM me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or The Walking Dead...**

* * *

The next day Naruto had woken up to the sight of Clementine curled up in a ball, her head resting on his lap as she let out soft snores. It was still pretty early in the morning so he didn't expect her to wake any time soon. Not that he would dream of waking her though, she was still a young child and after yesterdays events would need as much rest as she could get; seeing her babysitter's head caved in with a hammer would freak out any kid her age.

He had talked with her through the night, trying to get to know his new half sized charge a little better. It turned out that she loved to draw and had even showed him some of her more precious pictures. They were mostly drawings of her a family and a young child's imagination, the most recent being a unicorn. She also played soccer, although she expressed disinterest in the sport as a whole much to Naruto's amusement.

He had lost track of how much time had passed but pretty soon he heard Lee beginning to stir on the couch to his left. With a groan the older male brought a hand to his head and held it for a second, no doubt trying to remember what happened and why he was in so much pain.

"Thirsty..." Seriously? That's the first thing he said after all that happened? Humming in amusement Naruto carefully replaced his lap with a pillow to cushion Clementine's head as he stood up and began stretching. The movement seemed to catch Lee's attention as he sat up himself, only to grunt as a wave of pain shot through his leg.

"Hey, easy there. Lee right? Yeah, might want to keep some weight off of that leg of yours, it wasn't a pretty sight but I did my best with the bandages." He moved around the furniture and into the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water he handed it to the man who was looking around in confusion.

"Your that kid from the cop car." He took the water with a grateful nod before downing the whole glass in one deft movement. Naruto filed away the term 'Car', that's what they must have been riding in yesterday.

"Yup, that's me. The names Naruto, nice to meet ya Lee." Extending his hand, he saw Lee stare at it for a brief second before taking it and giving it a firm shake.

"Naruto? That's an...unusual name. Not from around here I take it." He seemed genuinely curious although he worded it as a statement rather than a question. Naruto merely chuckled and waved the question off.

"You could say that. I'm guessing you must be pretty confused right about now, so if you have any questions I'll try and answer them for you. Be warned though, I don't know exactly what's going on myself." Seeing the serious expression on the kids face Lee could only nod and asked the most obvious question he could think of.

"Where are we?" He could have anticipated that one. It's not like he knew where they were though even though he knew it was coming.

"We aren't too far from that road we were driving down when we hit one of those things and crashed."

"About that, what happened? And what do you mean 'one of those things'?" Looks like this Lee guy was pretty sharp. That was good, he'd need that.

"Well, after we left Atlanta, we were heading down the highway and the police officer didn't see it until it was too late. We hit the thing and crashed into the forest just off the highway. I pulled you from the wreckage and brought you here where I fixed up your leg. As to what they are, I'm not entirely sure myself. All I know is that they're dead and only a solid blow to the head can keep them down. Hey, wait a minute! Don't look at me like that, take a look outside, you'll see for yourself!" Naruto could see Lee's face drop as he continued to explain the recent happenings until eventually he had just stood up and backed away. His eyes shone with wariness and, wait, was that anger?

Regardless of his feelings he needed to learn the truth. Naruto lead him over to the window which he had covered with a thick black sheet. He pulled one of the corners to the side to allow Lee just enough room to peer through it. A few seconds later Lee stumbled backwards in shock, his expression morphing into one of complete disbelief.

"W-what the hell is that thing!?" After allowing him a second to recover and compose himself Naruto pressed on.

"We aren't sure. What we do know is that they used to be people, like us." Naruto did his best to keep the grim expression neutral but failed badly. He was still coming to terms with all of this himself.

"We? What the fuck do you mean by we?" With a sigh Naruto prepared to explain what else had happened when a small voice perked up from behind Lee.

"Naruto... Mr. Lee said a swear." He was grateful for Clementine's timely, if accidental interruption. At least now it wouldn't look like he had just gone out child snatching during the night.

"He's just surprised is all Clem. He didn't mean it, right _Mr Lee_?" Naruto's tone became mocking towards the end as he turned to Lee with a smirk.

"Huh?" Seeing the wide eyed expectant gaze of the little girl now stood slightly behind Naruto clutching at the fabric of his pants he couldn't help but wonder how he had missed her.

"Err no, sorry kid." He hadn't dealt with kids this young in a long time, he was a little bit out of his depth and wasn't entirely sure how to respond.

"I'm Clementine, not kid." Naruto's muffled laughter wasn't really helping him at the moment.

"Right, sorry. My name is Lee. Its nice to meet you Clementine." Naruto watched on as Clementine nodded once before seeing the older males expectant look. Sighing again Naruto ushered Clementine out from behind him before kneeling in front of her.

"Hey Clem, now that you're awake we're gonna find somewhere safe to lay low whilst this mess is sorted out. Why don't you run upstairs and pack some clothes?" Seeing the worried look in her eyes Naruto smiled and patted her on her cap.

"Don't worry, I'll still be here. We're a team now okay? And I never leave my team mates behind." Giving her the infamous 'Good Guy' pose that had been perfected by Gai and Bushy Brows back home seemed to calm her nerves as she nodded and scampered off upstairs.

The pain in his chest spiked as he remembered those he had failed back home, now though, with this lonely little girl he felt that he had found a way to atone for his sins. He wouldn't fail. Not again.

His internal musings were broken by Lee's cough, it seemed he had some more explaining to do. Hopefully this time Lee would be more accepting of his answer and wouldn't freak out again.

"Cute kid. Who is she?"

"Her name is Clementine. I found her when I carried you here. She'd been stuck in that tree-house outside for two days, her former babysitter must have been attacked and turned into one of those things, only found her when I took care it with a hammer. She had nowhere else to go so I decided that I'd protect her. It's that simple." The fierce look in Naruto's eyes as he finished shocked Lee, well he certainly hadn't been expecting that.

"Okay, so what now? Do you have some sort of plan?" This kid certainly was surprising. He had no idea how the rather frail looking blonde had managed to carry him out of that wreck but was thankful that he had. He was definitely looking forward to seeing what the younger male had in store next.

What he hadn't been expecting was for Naruto to start scratching his head whilst letting out a suspiciously nervous chuckle.

* * *

Lee soon discovered that despite Naruto's impressive character he was utterly useless at thinking ahead. Turns out the blondes plan had been to scavenge some supplies and lay low. Whilst a good plan in theory it became pretty obvious that it wouldn't be much of an option. How long could they last before another horde of those things strolled by? No, what they needed to do was move. Find a better location to lay low and look for other survivors; maybe someone who had an answer as to what was happening here.

Luckily for them they heard voices coming from outside, in the main street. A quick look from behind the makeshift curtain alerted them to the presence of other survivors. It appeared that they had gotten stuck behind the wreckage of a few cars and were trying to move it, albeit with less subtlety than what was probably considered safe.

A glance between Naruto and Lee was all that was needed for them to cautiously make their way outside, Clementine clutching firmly at Naruto's hand. Once they'd gathered the few short supplies that they had managed to scrounge together Lee had offered to go on ahead and check what the problem was. At the doorway of the home Clementine had paused and looked inside once more before looking back at Naruto, her eyes seemed unsure.

"Hey Clem, what's the matter?" Besides the obvious fact everyone seems to have died and come back to life as monsters that is.

"Should I stay?" That one caught Naruto by surprise, he didn't even try and hide it either.

"What?" It turned out that she was worried about her parents coming home and her not being there when/if they came back. Now things became clearer to Naruto, she must have felt like she was leaving her home and her family behind.

"I wont leave you Clem. You won't be alone through this." That seemed to lift her spirits. Her small smile also managed to force one out of Naruto as well.

"Lets go somewhere safe that's close, okay?"

"That's a good idea, if your parents come home, I'm sure they'll find us." Clementine nodded and hurried towards the gate that led into the main street. It was there that Naruto found Lee talking to the two guys from earlier, they seemed surprised when they saw Naruto. Lee pointed in his direction and said something he couldn't quite catch, whatever he had said had obviously caught the two off guard.

One was a tall stocky teen, with chubby features, kind of scruffy looking too. A grimy loose fitting white t-shirt did little too hide the fact he was overweight, his dark jeans were just as dirty as his shirt and looked to have seen better days. Dark and unkempt brown hair brushed back so that it reached his neck and a small amount of facial hair finished off his countryside look. Naruto subconsciously noted that he was more than likely too slow to be a threat if he were hostile given how he looked and that it would be child's play to end him on the spot. Even without a weapon.

The other was shorter than his companion and decidedly less grubby to boot. Short black hair was also styled back much like his friends albeit much shorter and better cared for. A pale green button up shirt and beige cargo shorts looked to be in much better condition than his partners, hinting that it was the larger one who handled the majority of the physical tasks. Again, this one was also dismissed as a threat upon first glance, he wasn't much shorter than Naruto and didn't exactly look like the most physically capable person. If need be the two could be taken care of in a matter of seconds.

Having finished his mental evaluation in mere seconds Naruto and Clementine walked out through the gate to greet the new arrivals. He managed to catch the end of a conversation between the shorter one and Lee, something about a ride to his fathers farm in exchange for a small favour of manual labour.

Once he was within the groups range of talking quietly enough not to draw more of those things to their position they all turned to greet him and his half sized partner. Lee offering a small smile and a nod of his head to send the unspoken message between the two.

So they seemed okay in Lee's opinion did they? At the minute that meant absolutely nothing to him. For someone he'd only just recently met, Lee was okay in his books but that didn't mean he'd trust him or his judgement just like that. Clementine was his only concern at the moment, anything that came between that would be dealt with. Permanently.

The two of them seemed genuinely happy to see the blonde and the small girl clung to his hand, their eyes softened as they lingered on Clementine for a moment longer than the blonde was comfortable with. His eyes narrowed as she sensed the scrutiny she was under and hid herself further behind his leg, with the tension slowly becoming palpable he couldn't blame her.

All attention turned to the dark skinned male as he coughed into his hand awkwardly, the feeling not lost on him either as he eyed both parties, more specifically how defensive the younger blonde had suddenly become when faced with an unknown party.

"Naruto, this is Shawn and Chet. They could use a hand moving some of the cars from the road so they can get past, even offered us a ride to a safer place, They've just came back from Atlanta; seems it went to hell pretty quickly since we left."

"Hey there, I'm Shawn. Shawn Greene. The big guy is Chet. Lee was just telling us that your something of a hero."

"I'm no hero. I just did what I hope anyone in my position would have done." He frowned as he finished, wondering what would have happened if it had of been someone else that had found Clementine.

"Modest too huh? You should give yourself some credit. Apparently you saved their lives and took the kid under your wing. Ah, sorry honey, we haven't been introduced yet." With a smile Chet knelt down to her level and offered her a hand.

"It's Clementine." Her voice was almost too low to hear but with little to no activity in the surrounding area everyone heard her as if she'd actually spoken up. He also noticed how she didn't return the handshake.

"Err guys, we shouldn't be out in the open like this. We could do this on the way to the farm. Who knows when some more of those creeps may show up." As if on cue, dozens of the former humans turned a corner, their gaping maws eager to rip into the tender flesh of the living.

"Shit! Quick, help me push this out the way!" Before any of the others had blinked Naruto had already slammed into the back of the car and began to move the several tonne truck by himself.

'What the hell? I didn't even see him move!' As if reminding him of the imposing danger though, one of the creatures let out an unearthly moan, signalling their approach.

"Don't just stand there! Help me move this thing!" Springing into action Lee and Chet joined Naruto. Their joint effort made short work of the wheeled blockade and the engine of the other males pick-up roared to life.

With lightning quick speeds, Naruto had picked Clementine up and placed her inside the truck whilst both Lee and Chet dived into the back. With no further obstructions Shawn sped off around the corner and away from the oncoming horde.

Only Clementine spared a glance behind as to what she was leaving behind.

* * *

Later that night the group after several hours on the road they turned a corner, pulling into a very spacious farm with a modest two story home placed into the middle. After getting out and closing the gate Chet had informed the group of his departure, something about having to get home to his mother. Naruto found himself preoccupied with scoping the place out and didn't catch most of the slightly older man's reasons but waved goodbye regardless as he collected Clementine's supplies from the front of the car.

Moments after Chet had left he heard a door creak open behind them, out of habit he reached down and took Clementine's hand in his own, ready to pick her up and run if whoever this was proved to be unfriendly. From the entrance came a much older male. Someone in his mid-fifties with greying hair and a small beard stepped onto the porch and cast suspicious eyes upon the three newcomers. If he had to guess he would have said it was Shawn's father, he could somewhat see the resemblance between the two.

"Thank God you're okay." He stepped out from the dimly lit porch and into his sons approaching arms. What followed next was a short monologue between father and son, relief evident on the faces of them both.

After watching that Naruto couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain in his heart, not for himself but for the small girl at his side. Who knew if she would ever get to experience the warm embrace of her father ever again, or the worried fretting of her mother over general well being. A quick glance to Lee told Naruto that the man was thinking along the same lines, a grim look in his eyes as he stared at the oblivious girl by Naruto's side.

Meeting his eyes after he caught him staring he nodded slowly and then flanked by the other blonde they made their way around the red truck to announce their presence. Almost immediately the oldest males eyes locked onto Clementine's form as she walked a step behind Naruto, her hand still firmly clutching his. When his eyes turned to scrutinise him the blonde didn't waver and stared right back, he didn't know what was running through his head but he was ready to act at a moments notice.

He may have been in the worst shape of his life but he was confident in his current ability to neutralise any and all potential threats that were currently present. From what he had seen thee people had nothing remarkable about them, not in the way he did at least. They were almost the same as the civilians back home, albeit more advanced in certain aspects of technology. After a second which felt like a year however he turned to give Lee a once over before glancing back at his son and then towards the misfit group of survivors one more.

"You've brought a couple guests." He said this without looking at Shawn and seemed to be expecting an answer from once of them. Before Naruto could reply, Lee beat him too it.

"You're boy is a lifesaver. Without him we'd have been stuck back in that small town, without a plan to either..." Even though he grumbled the last part under his breath, Naruto still heard him clear as day. Despite his best efforts he couldn't stop the twitch that had formed in his eyebrow. He had a plan! It was just unfinished...

Not even Naruto believed himself.

"Glad he could be of use to somebody. So why don't you introduce yourselves? I may be getting softer in my older years but I'm not about to let a couple of strangers stay on my farm." It seemed he had reacted badly to Naruto staring him out. Not that he would say so however, who would admit to losing a stare off by someone a less than third his age?

"Err sure. The names Lee. I come from Macon." Accepting his answer with a nod he once again turned his attention to Naruto and motioned for him to start.

"My name is Naruto, this here is Clementine. I'm, uhh, her babysitter..." Mentally kicking himself for that one he watched as the old man leant down to the girls height and looked her in the eyes.

"Honey, do you know this man?" It took her several moments before she graced him with an answer.

"...Yes."

"Okay then. Well, looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad there." In all the commotion he hadn't realised it but Lee's bandages had become soaked with more of his blood. From the look on the man's face, he hadn't noticed it either.

"Uh, yeah, its not doing too good. Naruto here bandaged it up when he found me."

"Well your lucky he did. We're going to have to change these bandages though. Shawn why don't you run inside and check on your sister. You, take a seat up there on the porch and I'll go see what I have." Nodding gratefully Lee followed the man's orders and sat himself on the wooden bench, wincing ever so slightly as he did now that the adrenaline from the past few hours had worn off.

Naruto followed closely behind, choosing to lean on one of the support beams with his arms folded, Clementine crept forward so she could get a better look at the proceedings, the older males shake of the head dissuaded her from getting any closer.

As pseudo medic treated Lee's wounds Naruto could quite clearly hear him interrogating the man. He asked his patient questions ranging from how he got the injury, to where he was going and even where he lived. Naruto did however learn his name, he introduced himself as Hershel Greene, something the blonde made a note of mentally. He never was good with names, it wouldn't bode well if he just started to call the owner of their temporary shelter 'old man'.

Midway through tending to Lee's leg Shawn had come back out from the house, trying in vain to get his father to take this new threat more seriously. The old guy was stubborn, Naruto would give him that. It didn't look like he was going to cave until Lee piped up, recounting what he had first seen when Naruto had shown him what lay outside of the window when he had woken up.

As he finished up he glanced at Naruto and then motioned for Lee to take Clementine into the barn to find themselves a space for the night. Apparently the house was full with Hershel's own kin and there was another family staying in the barn too. It was better than nothing he supposed. At least he could be grateful it was a warm night and the barn wouldn't be too creepy with other people in there. As they descended the few steps Clementine stopped and looked back, as if waiting for Naruto to follow suit.

"Lee, why don't you and Clem go on ahead, I'm sure Hershel has a few more questions and I'd like to get to know him better. I'll be there soon Clementine, remember my promise? I'll never leave you." An encouraging smile to the young girl was enough to prevent her from protesting and with a final look over her shoulders she let Lee guide her towards the barn.

"Cute girl." Naruto nodded as the smile slowly left his face before turning towards Hershel. It looked like it was his turn to be put through the ringer.

"So, Naruto, was it? That's an unusual name you got there. Where are you from?" Just as he thought.

"Nowhere important. Doubt you've heard of the place anyway." He doubted anyone had.

"I see. Clementine, how do you know her then? Lee told me some things but I want to hear it from you. You sure as hell don't look the babysitting type." Ah, he saw through that little ruse did he. The blonde would have been more surprised if he hadn't to be honest though.

"As Lee told you, we were in a car accident. I carried him from the wreckage and stumbled across her home. Lee was unconscious at the time and bleeding pretty badly. Those things were everywhere so I had to set him down somewhere safe. I tried to see if anyone was home, but there was no answer, so I went in. I found a walkie and Clem was on the other end, in her tree house no less. One of those things jumped me after Clem warned me and she saved me I suppose. Bashed the things head in with a hammer. Turns out she didn't have anyone to take care of her so I told her I would protect her until we found her parents. We run into your son and now here we are, on your farm. You happy old man?" Dammit Naruto! His name is Hershel not 'old man'.

As Naruto mentally chastised himself, Hershel gave him a good once over. The blonde teen in front of him was average in height, not that much taller than him, an unruly blonde mop of hair framed his face, barely out of the way of his eyes. He was skinny too, really skinny. There were clear signs of fitness though, the muscle tone in his arms was proof of that. He'd wager that the boy had once been the epitome of fitness before something had happened to him. Those scars on his face were incredibly odd, he'd never seen anything like that in all his years. In fact they almost looked like whiskers. Given his own occupation, Hershel might have found it ironic if it were a better day.

It was the eyes that really caught his attention though, those heavy, lifeless eyes seemed to bore a hole into his own. He'd made the mistake of staring right into them. He'd never seen eyes like that in his life. So devoid of feeling that it almost made him cringe. That all changed though when he saw the little girl. The only time he saw a shine in those dull blue depths was when he was interacting with Clementine. That fierce look in his eyes when he mentioned protecting her... It was so intense that it sent chills down his spine.

Looking away quite quickly Hershel couldn't make heads or tails of the current situation. This blonde boy certainly was surprising. He had expected him to be some punk who could hardly take care of himself, yet here he was, raising a little girl with no notable prior experience.

"Look, I didn't mean anything by it. Just...Just take care of her. I can't imagine what she's been through. She'll need you just as much as you will need her. Now go get some rest, chores start early tomorrow and we'll be seeing you off with some supplies for the road."

"Thanks, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight Hershel." With that Naruto left towards the barn. With a sigh the old veterinarian also headed back inside. The fewer people that came to his farm looking for shelter the better in his eyes.

Inside the farm was actually more unpleasant than Naruto had first thought, his sensitive nose instantly picking up on the manure spread throughout the building. A quick scan told him that there were three others in the barn too. A family most likely judging by their closely huddled together forms on the landing above them.

He also saw Clem and Lee, blankets strewn across the hay in makeshift beds. It sounded like Lee was out for the count, his soft snoring would likely become a problem if it got any louder. Clementine on the other hand was still awake and sat with her knees clutched to her chest, she appeared deep in thought. What she was thinking about though was obvious, the gloomy expression on her face told more than she could ever hope to tell with mere words.

She hadn't noticed Naruto until he had sat down beside her and wrapped a single arm around her tiny shoulders. She jerked at first, her eyes wide with surprise until she saw Naruto's bitter-sweet smile. She relaxed in his embrace, burying her face into his midriff as her shoulders began to shake, he could feel his t-shirt beginning to get moist, not that he cared though.

"I miss my Mom and Dad." He had suspected this was going to come up sooner or later, it would probably be for the best to let her get some of it out of her system.

"I'll bet you do Clem." He honestly felt that he could relate, they were in almost the exact same position. Everyone they ever knew or cared about had been taken from them, unsure of whether they were alive or dead.

"You'll help me find them right?" She sniffed a few times, obviously trying to hold back the tears that were still running down her cheeks.

"Yeah, I promised you I'd take care of you until then though didn't I? If your parents are out there, we'll find them." Whatever their fate he added mentally.

It was silent for a few minutes and Naruto thought that maybe she had fallen asleep, it had been a long day and they both needed as much rest as possible. He began began to drift off himself when he heard a sleepy murmur coming from his side.

"Naruto?" Clementine's voice was low and quiet, she was definitely on the verge of sleep.

"Hmmm?"

"I'm glad you found me." With a soft yawn she cuddled further into his side as he lay them both down. He wanted to reply but he couldn't trust his voice at the minute. It would have been pointless too because soon after that the young girls breathing evened out

He began to feel moisture prickle in the corner of his eyes but he didn't cry. He had to be strong. For everyone he had lost, for the countless sacrifices made by people he held dearest just to keep him safe. But also for the child attached to his side. In two short days, 48 measly hours, she had become the most precious thing in the world to him at the minute.

He would be strong, for his comrades, for Kurama and for Clementine. No matter what he would protect their memories and her.

At whatever the cost.

* * *

**A/N - Chapter two done guys, Let me know what you thought. Leave a review or PM me.**

**Thank to everyone who added this to their favourites and story alerts. An even bigger thank you goes out to those who took the time to review. It's you guys make me want to keep writing.**

**Till the next time!**


	4. Farmyard Blues

**A/N – Chapter Three of Lost and Found. Not much to say here other than sorry for the ridiculously extra long wait and that I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or The Walking Dead...**

* * *

The next morning Naruto woke up before anyone else. The light, steady breathing on his arm let him know that Clementine was still out of it. Without even looking at Lee he knew that he was also fast asleep. That damned snoring of his would be the death of him one day, be it by those dead things or the hand of a wrathful otherworldly blonde ninja.

This was something that had annoyed him, no matter how tired he was all it would take was a couple of hours for his body to fully rejuvenate. Whether this was a by-product of Kurama or his own Uzumaki blood he had no idea, all it meant that he could never have as much sleep as everyone else. It was incredibly useful when he had started taking missions and they had to sleep in short shifts though, not even Kakashi had woken up as fresh-faced and energetic as Naruto.

Speaking of Kurama, the beast still remained as sickly as when he had first checked on him, nothing had changed and just like last time he'd taken a trip towards the cage there was no response. To be honest that worried him more than the issue with his Chakra, over time the massive energy construct had become one of his closest, not to mention most powerful, allies. Whatever had happened to him had obviously also affected the giant fox, more severely than it had affected him by the looks of things.

At the moment, all he had were theories, all more outlandish than the last. Kurama was likely his only way of finding a way home and until the day came when he was in a better condition, he was stuck here.

Dark thoughts attempted to worm their way to the forefront of his mind but they were quashed immediately. Home was a secondary long-term goal, he had plenty of time to prepare for the rematch with that red-eyed mad man.

If there was going to be one...

Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind in favor of more present and pressing issues. Like his current conditioning. Or a lack of in this case.

Without so much as a yawn the blonde rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his free hand, the other one was occupied by a small breathing mass known as Clementine. The muscle tone was all but gone in his arm, all that was left was a flabby mess encased in several layers of skin. This would have to be rectified as soon as possible. He needed to be fit if he was to last in this world.

With his Chakra currently untouchable all that was left to do was the physical aspect of his training. He always woke up a few hours before everyone else anyway and it would be good to get some sort of routine going to prepare him for the days ahead. Make no mistake, if he was able to utilize any of his Chakra, then those things roaming the streets would be laid to waste by the hundreds, thousands even, if they tried to come between him and little Clem.

He spotted the familiar baseball cap of the aforementioned girl by his side and chose not to get up just yet. She looked far too comfortable and he'd feel bad for disturbing her much-needed rest. His training could wait another hour or so. All in all it looked like this was going to be a good day. He was going to get up, train, do some chores around the farm, train, spend time with Clementine, train, eat, train and then top the day off with some nice training.

The first rays of light had began to slip through the cracks in the barn, he probably wouldn't be able to lie here too much longer. Hershel would no doubt be up soon to put them to work. Well the farm was nice at least and it looked untouched from the horrors that took place beyond its pastures of green.

When Clementine shifted in her sleep Naruto slipped his arm out from underneath her head, making sure to shake the pins and needles out of his body as he stood up and stretched before creeping out of the temporary sleeping quarters.

* * *

Despite the suns slow ascension it was still pretty dark outside, the orange that bathed the skyline caused Naruto to smirk slightly. Even throughout all of this his love for that particular color was as strong as ever. It also looked like it was going to be a pretty good day, no potential rain clouds in sight; both literally and metaphorically. It looked like those things hadn't made it to the farm yet.

"Well, this looks a good spot." A short walk away from the barn found Naruto in an open area with a large oak tree to the left of the Hershel's spacious home.

Taking deep breaths and loosening himself up he began with all the basic exercises to get his blood pumping. After twenty minutes a single bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, it appeared he wasn't a never-ending source of energy any more. Not that it mattered much, he could still outrun anything this world had to offer, there was no doubt in his mind of that. Even whilst carrying someone he was still faster than those 'Car' things from what he had seen. Well that was with Chakra, without it he wasn't so sure.

An hour later he began to feel his muscles ache, the strain of being put through an intense work out so soon after only recently becoming functional again was almost too much. Naruto paid the pain no heed though, swiftly gliding through motions as if battling multiple opponents, twisting and bending in ways that would leave most professional dancers in awe.

Nearly two hours into the exercise Naruto's muscles begged for mercy, they were being pushed harder than they had in a long time. His body was now literally dripping sweat, his t-shirt having been discarded somewhere along the way allowed the crisp morning air to flow around his bare upper body. Despite being more exhausted than he had in a long time Naruto had never felt better, the wind rushing through his hair, the aching of his muscles, the sweat dripping from every pore of his body, he loved it. All of that just let him know that he was pushing himself to the limit and that's exactly what he wanted.

Perhaps he had gotten to carried away though, as his spatial awareness all but disappeared. After a particularly vicious looking aerial roundhouse kick he spun as he landed with the momentum and unleashed a devastating elbow into the trunk of the large oak tree. He froze like that for a moment, his elbow still embedded into the bark, he couldn't have hit that cleaner if he tried. Then his eyes widened as a sharp cracking noise filled the area and the tree began to shake.

Still in a state of disbelief he could only watch as the bark splintered and cracked, chunks of it falling to the floor. Nothing moved after that for what felt like hours, but in reality was only seconds.

"Well I'll be damned."

Standing behind him on his porch, looking calmer than he should have been was Hershel. He had his shotgun pointed right at the blonde. His hands were as steady as a surgeons as he kept a trained eye on him. A pitch fork by his side on one of the support beams, it appeared as though he had just gotten up to do the chores.

"Hershel... How much did you see?" Naruto cursed himself for getting carried away. His first day on the farm and he'd already nearly knocked over a tree.

"Enough to know that you're dangerous." His tone didn't change. It was almost conversational and might have been if he wasn't lined up to blow Naruto's face off.

"Look, I can explain..." He slowly held up his hands in a placating manner, the fatigue was starting to get to him now, his movement were more sluggish and it felt like he was trying to move underwater.

"Don't try me with that bullshit boy, that ain't something you can just explain."

There was something in Hershel's eyes that Naruto couldn't figure out, if he was going to shoot him he would have done it by now. It was as if he waiting, but for what? The ex-ninja didn't know yet, but he was certain he'd find out what it was soon enough.

"If you would just let me..." Again Hershel cut him off, not allowing him to continue. This was starting to look bad.

"Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn't kill you now and throw those friends of yours off of my property and leave them for dead." That look in Hershel's eyes only increased in intensity. It was almost as if he pushing him.

Did he already consider Lee to be his friend? And what about Clementine? Maybe it was his hero complex but he couldn't deny that he felt the need to protect them at all costs.

Naruto completely disregarded that though, he was more focused on what had just been said. Was that a threat? It certainly sounded like one. Well, no matter what, he couldn't let that stand at all. Making threats against his life was fair game, he had trashed his tree, it could have had sentimental value or something. But to threaten Clementine? And Lee? Wrong move old man.

Hershel couldn't see it, but as Naruto bowed his head in what he assumed to be resignation, beneath the bangs that shadowed his eyes something ancient stirred within those icy glaciers. Something that lasted the barest of seconds but it burned with the intensity of a thousand suns.

"You can try... But you better be damn sure you kill me. Miss and you're going to find out that there are things far scarier than a couple of dead people walking around." Naruto's eyes locked with Hershel's at that point and even through the anger he saw the change almost immediately, where there was once uncertainty there was now only reluctant acceptance.

With a grunt, Hershel lowered his firearm and relaxed. It took a few blinks from the blonde to process what had just happened. One minute he was about to be blown away by the old guy's gun and now he was smiling at him?

"That's good. I apologize for that but I wanted to test your character. You didn't disappoint me."

"Test my character?" Now Naruto was confused. He may have had street smarts and matured throughout the war but he still wasn't the brightest. He'd take a good old fashioned brawl over any intellectual challenge any day.

"The girl you're taking care of, Clementine. You and Lee are the only people she can rely on now. I don't know what I just saw you doing, I've never seen anything like that in all of my days, but that doesn't matter. You could be the strongest man in the whole world but it wouldn't count for nothing if you were a coward."

Now he got what this was about. This was about his ability to take care of Clementine. Hershel wanted to see if he'd back down and allow harm to come to her. Despite the situation Naruto found himself beginning to smile.

"Look, what you just did, I'm not old and senile enough just yet to think that was normal but everyone has their secrets. Not everyone is as understanding as me though, for all I know you could have been sent here by God himself. I once witnessed a mother lift a two tonne truck off her child like it was nothing. I'm no stranger to miracles but something tells me you're different."

"Even if I told you, which I won't, you wouldn't believe me. No offence." He didn't mean to come off as sounding rude even if it may have sounded that way.

"I thought that might be the case. Listen Naruto, you're going to have to keep what you can do close to your chest if you don't want common folk freaking out."

Naruto could understand that, now he knew for certain that he was an anomaly within this world. Stood here being lectured off of this old guy made him feel like he was back in the academy, being scolded for his stupid mistakes by Iruka.

"Can I give you one more piece of advice?" Naruto had a feeling that regardless of his answer he'd hear it anyway so he played along and nodded, all of his other words of wisdom had been pretty sound so far.

"Sure."

"Let's say things don't get better back in the cities. Or they get worse before they do. You're going to have to depend on the honesty of strangers if you're going to make it. And if those same people get to questioning yours, you're going to be in trouble."

That made sense. He was actually pretty lucky that Hershel had taken the sight of Naruto and his training pretty well, he didn't want to think about what could have happened if he had of shot first and asked questions later.

"Enough of that though, you folks are welcome to stay as long as you behave. Now, help me get everyone up, its time for you to earn your keep, go wake up those friends of yours and then use the shower. Boy, you stink." With those parting words Hershel left to his home, probably to wake up his children. Naruto watched Hershel leave before turning towards the barn himself, stopping only to pick up his discarded shirt.

* * *

Waking the others up had been a pretty easy ordeal, Clementine had been stirring herself and the other family seemed to be getting prepared for the day ahead.

"Hey Clem, time to get up." It took a few gentle shakes of her shoulder but slowly the little girls eyes blinked open, appearing dazed and lost for a few seconds before they gained focused and snapped on to Naruto's, still somewhat blurred, silhouette.

"N-Naruto?" Her eyelids fluttered rapidly as she tried to make sense of the mess of shapes and colors that knelt beside her.

"Stop sounding so surprised will ya? I told you that I'd take care of you and that's what I'm gonna do." He smiled warmly as he picked stray bits of straw from her hair before ruffling it as best he could with the cap still firmly attached to her head.

"Sorry..."

"You don't need to apologise Clementine, no harm done. Listen, I'm gonna need you to look after Lee for a little bit while I clean my self up, can you do that for me?" As if on cue Lee let out a loud snore, Naruto sighed and shook his head in amusement as Clementine tried to stifle a giggle behind her small hands.

"I think so." Although her body language seemed to contradict her words Naruto found himself smiling again. He hadn't felt like this in months.

He couldn't help it, Clementine was so innocent; like a lamb running with the lions she was forever surrounded by danger. The lone blonde planned on preserving this for as long as he possibly could, although he was not naïve enough to believe that she could be protected from the harshness of the outside world forever. Someday, she'd have to learn to defend herself. Lucky her then that she'd be learning from the best.

When the older man from the top of the barn slowly made his way down the ladders Naruto had started introductions immediately, making sure to skip over some of the major details about himself. He learned the three other outsiders were planning on heading out in the near future and were actually going to pass by Lee's home town of Macon.

Kenny appeared very likable at first glance, he was passionate about his family and his mildly scarred hands hinted he was a hard working man. Katjaa, whose name sounded weird even by Naruto's standards, was the doting wife of Kenny. A very pleasant woman who seemed to radiate nothing but a friendly warmth. The last of the three was Kenny Junior, or Duck, as he was nicknamed by his father. The small boy was incredibly excitable immediately bombarding Naruto with questions so fast that he didn't have an answer for most.

Despite everything that was happening around them, the small family somehow managed to remain upbeat, as if this was nothing but a small bump in the road. Naruto found himself envious. It looked as though they hadn't been exposed to the travesties the world could throw at them and because of that they seemed happy. Content.

The former Shinobi tried to distract himself from the creeping memories of the war. Those times had come and gone. He was never one to give up but even he had to accept that as it stood, he'd most likely never see the peace had longed for in his own world. With a shake of his head he made to leave the barn, turning only to address Kenny as he left.

"Hey, err, Kenny? You mind waking up Lee over here?

Naruto thought it would be best if he allowed Kenny to wake up Lee, give them a chance to introduce themselves and get to know one another, Lee might have been interested in knowing that Kenny was heading past his home. Who knows, Lee might even be able to secure a ride or something.

"Sure thing kid. Go get cleaned up. After that, its all hands on deck. Can't have no slacking now."

With a nod Naruto left the barn; unaware of the impending danger beyond the small crooked fence of the farm.

* * *

About half an hour later Naruto stepped out of Hershel's shower, feeling refreshed and ready to go again. It didn't take him long to change into some clean clothes one of Hershel's girls had left out for him.

As he descended the stairs he heard what could only be described as a mechanical roar right before a scream of pain. Without so much as a second thought he sprinted down the rest of the stairs and nearly took the door off its hinges as he barged through.

Time seemed to slow down as he watched one of the undead grab Duck from beyond the fence, fully intent on making a meal out of the small boy. Trapped under the wheel of the Tractor was Shawn, several of the decaying corpses clawing at the fence, groaning desperately in need of the young man's warm flesh.

He saw Lee, followed by Kenny, making a desperate sprint for the older man's son, their choice seemingly made. This left Shawn at the mercy of the fallen humans, screaming for help that may not have come if Naruto hadn't intervened.

Hershel's earlier words about laying low didn't even seem to register in his mind as he sprinted over faster than most men could take a single step. The others didn't seem to notice his super human speed, too focused on freeing Duck to pay much attention to anything else.

Shawn desperately clutched at Naruto's arms as he looked for any way to escape his impending fate, the small fence bending and creaking with every second as the monsters pressed further and further into it.

With a tug the blonde tried to pull the older male from under the wheel of the tractor but it wouldn't budge at all. Letting go of the slightly older males arm he turned his attention to the machine responsible for his current predicament. Even as he pushed it with his enhanced strength it did nothing but give the creatures more time to break through.

His eyes darted from side to side looking for anything that might help him in his endeavor. They landed on an axe a few yards away and the sound of the breaking wood spurred Naruto into action.

With one mighty swing of the wood cutting instrument flesh and bone gave way to the power of the lost Shinobi, swiftly followed by the second. It was at this time Hershel ran onto the scene with his gun.

"Move!" Naruto dropped to the ground as the wood gave way allowing the third creature entry into the farm. It didn't manage to take two steps before the old vet ended its life for a second time with pinpoint accuracy.

After the gunshot sounded out across the land all seemed to fall silent, Shawn had passed out from the pain of having his leg crushed and only the heavy breathing of those with a pulse could be heard.

"Get out." It was spoken just above a whisper but they all heard it.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Hours seemed to pass before Hershel's angry eyes turned onto the so called guests of his farm, burning holes into each and every one of them.

Kenny tried to apologise but Hershel was blinded by rage, the sight of his sons mangled leg and narrow escape from death had made reasoning with the man completely out of the question. Young Duck had nearly gotten Shawn killed and there was no other way to look at the situation. Even Lee wasn't spared as he was grilled for his unwillingness to help him and his lack of a solid retort only made Hershel angrier.

Through all of this Naruto stood close to Clementine, trying to distract her from the wrath of the wronged father. The blood of the infected was paid no heed as it stained his clothing as he comforted the distraught girl with the axe still firmly held in his hand.

Having been kicked out of the farm Naruto and Lee accepted Kenny's offer of a ride into Macon, the town in which Lee was raised. They packed up their meager supplies and piled into his beaten up truck and drove into the distance, leaving the farm behind, with no intention of returning.

* * *

**Note, obviously Naruto hasn't seen a car hit its top speeds so he isn't aware of just how fast they really are. **

**Well there you have it, hopefully I'll be able to update this more regularly now. If you still follow this story you may be excited to know that depending on how I end this story I may continue into the second series of this game and maybe beyond that. What do you think about that? Yay or nay? Let me know in the reviews or via PM.**


End file.
